India U-16 girls held to a 1-1 draw against Laos
India U-16 girls held to
a 1-1 draw by eventual table-toppers Laos in their final fixture of the first
round of the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship Thailand 2019 Qualifiers at the MFF
Stadium in Ulaan Baatar today (September 23, 2018). Following the result, Laos,
having amassed 10 points from 4 matches qualified to the second round of the
qualification. India finished their campaign with 7 from 4 matches.
Aveka Singh (18') opened
the scoring for India from a well-taken corner by Lynda Kom to give India an
early lead but Pe (82’) struck late to steal an all-important point from the
tie.
Coach Firmin D'Souza
made as many as two changes in the starting line-up having brought in Pinku
Devi and Kritina Devi in the places of Anju and Kiran respectively. On the
other hand, Laos were set to miss the services of their ace striker Phimpa who
was suspended today.
Indian National Team will play International Friendly against China
Indian National Team will play International Friendly against China
India, having switched
to a 4-4-2 formation from their conventional 3-4-3, caught Laos off-guard in
the 3rd minute but Sunita was ruled offside.
After the 15-minute
mark, India earned back-to-back corners and on the second one, they broke the
deadlock from a superb effort by Aveka.
Lynda took a long corner
directed to Shilky but the skipper's side-tapping landed closer to Aveka after
getting rebounded off the defender. Aveka placed it nicely to find the top
corner of the net to open the scoreline.
In the added time of the
first half, Sunita got an opportunity to double the lead but before she could
toe it rightly, the goalie came in the middle to thwart her effort.
The scoreboard read 1-0
in favour of the Indians at the end of the first-half.
Following the
changeover, Laos changed the gear but Indian defenders held their nerves to
thwart their every single effort.
Lynda probably had the
easiest opportunity of the match in the 74th minute. The winger was left
completely unmarked near the second post but she miscued the chance to gift
Laos a lifeline.
8 minutes to the end of
regulation time, Pe hit the target to dash India’s dream of making it to the
second round of the qualifiers.
INDIA: Manisha (GK),
Jyoti Kumari, Ritu Devi, Pinku Devi (Anju 85’), Priyangka Devi, Kritina Devi
(Kiran 80'), Priyanka Sujeesh, Lynda Kom, Aveka Singh, Shilky Devi (C), Sunita
Munda.